Ex-Studio 54 owner Mark Fleischman dies by assisted suicide in Dignitas Switzerland

EX-STUDIO 54 owner Mark Fleischman died on Wednesday by assisted suicide in Dignitas Switzerland after an illness left him bedridden.

According to his former business partner, Mark Fleischman passed away in Switzerland having received medical assistance in committing suicide. Fleischman was the owner of the famed nightclub Studio 54 in New York City during the 1980s.

In 1980, Mr. Fleischman, who is now 82 years old, gained control of the club and managed it until 1986.

He first fell unwell in 2016, and his illness left him unable to walk or take care of many of his own needs, but he said that doctors were unable to identify his illness.

On Wednesday, he committed suicide at the Dignitas facility outside of Zurich.

Daniel Fitzgerald, who along with Mr. Fleischman co-owned the Century Club in Los Angeles during the 1990s and 2000s, said in an interview with FOX3 News, “I guess he was in more suffering than we thought.”

He said, “I thought maybe we could persuade him not to [leave].” “Many of his friends attended our very wonderful celebration for him, and everyone assumed that he would postpone the event for a month while we looked into other options. But he was adamant about accomplishing it.”

In Switzerland, assisted suicide is permitted, and the Dignitas clinic has been operational since 2002.

When Studio 54 first opened its doors in 1977, it quickly rose to the top of the US nightlife scene, drawing A-listers like Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, and Elizabeth Taylor to its renowned dance floor.

But after the two original co-owners were imprisoned for tax cheating, it was forced to close in 1980.

After taking control, Mr. Fleischman wrote a book titled Inside Studio 54 in which he detailed his time in command.

“From the first night we opened, in 1981, I was sucked into a world of stars, drugs, power, and sex,” he wrote.

Every night, famous people and gorgeous ladies pushed their way past the crowd and up the stairs to my office to drink champagne and share lines of cocaine with each other while using my golden straw or $100 notes that had been rolled up.

With regard to his and Mr Fleischman’s time running the Century Club, Mr Fitzgerald said that the two “worked really well for a long time and had fun together.”